I suggest you read Shattered
Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War. Find out
what's really going oin in America today. You will lowse
your excuse for allowing your tax dollars to go toward
perpetuating this inhumanity. No civilized natioln makes war
on its own people. For more information, visit
(www.hr95.org).

-- Thomas Boud, Casper Star Tribune. June 3,
2000.

Personal note from Mr. Boud: "I ordered it from the
Laissez Faire catalogue, where I happened upon your book --
which, by the way, they recommended. I wasn't going to order
it because I knew it would infuriate me, but it put a face
on this scam, atrocity of a Drug War. It allowed me to focus
and draw ready facts in one source. By the way, did I
mention that I think your book is very well designed? It
must have cost a pretty penny.I worked int he printing
industry, so I know what goes into producing a book like
this. (Feb. 26, 2001)"

Libertarians thank Mr. Boud for his compelling,
informative expose of this multi-fronted war against
citizens. I, too, recommend the book, Shattered
Lives.

Shattered Lives fills a heretofore empty
space on the anti-Prohibition bookshelf. Thanks Mikki,
Chris, and Virginia for this important contribution.

-- Nick Eyle, ReconsiDer Quarterly, Summer
1999

"Shattered Lives is an
incredible book. I challenge anyone to read it not be moved,
both emotionally and intellectually."

-- Louie Free, WASN radio personality,
Youngstown OH, Dec. 13, 1998

Reading through the stories of these heretofore nameless
and faceless victims, one experiences emotions ranging from
shock and incredulousness to anger and frustration.
Fortunately, however, one is not left feeling helpless or
hopeless. The final chapter of the book deals with humane
alternatives to the draconian.

-- James M. Ives, North Coast Xpress, Spring
1999

"Shattered Lives pages are bursting with pictures
and sidebars. The designers have done a nice job. If only
high schools were using it as a workbook. (A replacement for
DARE, perhaps?) It was written for and in part by the poor
souls devoured by the war on drugs. Many of the sidebars
were written by current inmates. Their accounts and
accompanying photographs are touching, to say the least.

"It dawned on me after finishing Shattered Lives
that the way to end the drug war was right there in those
pictures. All those families torn apart, all those innocent
people steamrolled by the government. The government is
creating the enemy army right now. Once enough people are
victimized, it's only a matter of time before this army
starts to march."

"In several ways, Shattered Lives reads like an
everyman's edition of People magazine. Clearly written and
concisely structured, the book's ten chapters rely on
photographs to help tell the subjects' stories. The
pictures, both color and black-and white, show warm and
compassionate human faces attesting to the otherwise cold
hard facts of the Drug War's inhumanity.

"The snapshots, initially collected as part of a San
Francisco photo exhibit, prove that Drug War prisoners of
war belie criminal stereotypes. Sure, there are a few
youthful Deadheads and dreadlocked Rastas, but suburban
soccer moms, grandma and grandpa types and plenty of
blue-collar workers also find themselves behind bars, mainly
because of mandatory sentencing laws. "One of the strengths
of our book is its use of photographs," Norris notes. "There
are so many different kinds of people affected by this,
including children. This whole drug war is so anti-family,
so anti-community, it's tearing people apart. Nonviolent,
consensual offenders are being sent away to prison for long
stretches of time. Children are losing their parents and
losing each other."

"Not only do the short profiles of each defendant keep
the reader browsing along at a quick clip, humor also
reiterates the human element in Shattered Lives, with
section headings such as "Urine the Money," an expose of the
burgeoning drug testing industry."

"Shattered Lives argues its points poignantly and
persuasively, putting a human face on the drug war better
than anybody could have wished for. This is an important and
timely book, and the authors deserve a lot of credit. I
really do believe that if more people saw this book and
spent even just ten minutes reading through it, there would
be a shift in public acceptance regarding continuing the
'drug war'.

"Shattered Lives deserves to be viewed as much as read,
and it is the sort of book that needs to be displayed on
everybody's coffee table rather than put away on a
bookshelf. Ideally, this book will get the public response
it so well desrves."

"I just received my copy of
Shattered Lives. What a powerful achievement in
bringing the awful meaning of the drug war to new levels of
accessibility. Anyone who can read and reason cannot leave
your book uncertain about the drug war. Bravo!"

-- Michael Cutler, Attorney at Law

"Shattered Lives is a must
a wake-up call to every American. The book is
beautifully designed with photographs and stories of
ordinary people caught in the web of drug war excesses. Show
it to people who think we need a drug war! Compare the
'crimes' with the punishments. See how freedom and justice
vanish from America. For each person caught, a whole family
suffers. A great gift idea."

-- Clifton Thorton, Efficacy, November
1998.

"I write to bring to your immediate
attention a new book that is urgently needed in every
library system. Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's
Drug War by Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad & Virginia
Resner (ISBN 0-9639754-3-9), underscores the tragic human
impact of our current "Drug War" Policy.

Featured among many others in this book is Kemba Smith of
Richmond, VA, a typical African-American woman directly and
negatively affected by the War on Drugs. Ms. Smith is a
typical example of a very large picture of injustice that
literally tens of billions of our tax dollars per year are
presently funding.

I have discussed the Drug War's human impact with clergy
and other community leaders, some of whom are minorities.
Minority members of our community have been affected
disproportionately by the War on Drugs. I share their
outrage at the current state of affairs.

I have provided you with a copy of this book to expedite
the purchasing process. This book strongly supports the
Human Rights-95 exhibit that is presently touring the
Fairfax County Library System. The exhibit is currently in
the Thomas Jefferson Community Library.

The prompt introduction of this book into our library
system will provide the missing viewpoint our popular media
fails to supply. This book will provide important and
accessible information to library patrons researching the
War on Drugs and its impact on the individual and their
family. It will be a resource for all citizens.

I respectfully urge you to buy this new book
promptly.

-- Matthew J. Hammett, Reston, VA, Sept. 13,
1998

Medical marijuana patient and prisoner
Will Foster and his family are only a few of the thousands
upon thousands whose lives have been disrupted by America's
drug war. We are proud to announce that our new book offer
for members, available now, is Shattered Lives: Portraits
From America's Drug War, a beautifully produced glossy
volume, detailing case after case of needless drug war
tragedy. We are offering Shattered Lives to all new and
renewing members who donate $35 or more to DRCNet for a one
year membership.

Shattered Lives, authored by long-time activists Mikki
Norris, Chris Conrad and Virginia Resner, grew out of the
Human Rights and the Drug War exhibit, first unveiled as
"Atrocities of the Drug War" in June 1995. I first saw the
exhibit at the Drug Policy Foundation's 9th annual
conference that year. Though it was almost three years ago,
I still vividly remember walking through aisle after aisle
of suffering and injustice, each panel a gripping indictment
of a nation's conscience twisted upside down in our
government's cruel and pointless war against its own
citizenry. Leafing through Shattered Lives this month, I am
again reminded of the reasons we are working, and of the
urgency our cause demands: every day, hundreds, perhaps
thousands of lives are systematically and undeservedly
disrupted, as a matter of official government drug war
policy.

Though Shattered Lives is a gallery you can flip through
and browse and sample, it is also an educational work,
providing hard facts on issues such as mandatory minimum
sentences, conspiracy laws, prison growth, asset forfeiture,
bad drug raids, privacy violations, medical marijuana, drug
war militarization, eradication programs, harm reduction,
drug education and more. You can read it cover to cover, or
you can place it on your coffee table and use it to draw
guests into discussion of these important issues, or you can
donate your copy or a second copy to your local library. You
can get a taste of what's in Shattered Lives by visiting the
Human Rights and the Drug War web site at
<http://www.hr95.org>.

-- Dave Borden, director, DRC Net, Sept. 14,
1998

I just received a copy of
Shattered Lives in the mail. Even though my own work
is with the prisoners of the drug war and those that love a
prisoner, I suppose that I should be somewhat immune to
pages of tragic stories.

Today I could call shattered day. I am swallowing tears
and heartsick. Mixed with the stories of the prisoners,
their children and other family members are the facts and
statistics of the drug war.

I believe that the book could change policy if enough
people read it. It beckons the reader to turn the page...
written expertly and with care to good layout -- the largest
publishing house in the country could not have done a better
job!

Every page shows -- with a human face -- the destruction
and disgusting truth of the war on drugs. EVERY page.

Mikki, Chris and Virginia - thank you for providing us
with this tool to use to spread our message. You have done a
great job and it is certainly more than I expected.

-- Nora Callahan, November Coalition, Sept.
3, 1998

I've just finished reading, cover to
cover, Shattered Lives by Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad
and Virginia Resner. It brought tears to my eyes, put a lump
in my throat, and fear in the pit of my stomach.

The stories that brought tears to my eyes were those of
the loving families torn apart by the senseless laws which
mandate minimum sentencing.

The stories that put a lump in my throat were of the
physical brutality inflicted on women prisoners.

The fear in the pit of my stomach spread with the stories
of the midnight, no knock raids carried out by sadistic cops
who love to batter, ram and humiliate the "dangerous
potheads".

But it also offers hope. I've often referred to the
connection between the drug war and Vietnam. Shattered Lives
parallels the two, which in some ways gives me hope.
Eventually the whole nation took notice of the senseless
bloodshed and the Vietnam war ended. I remember the night
peace was declared. I was at a Chambers Brothers concert.
They sang "Time Has Come Today" and the whole crowd went
wild, cheering & dancing. I hold on to the hope that the
end to the WoSD will be similar.

Shattered Lives is the truth: unblinking and laid bare.
It's a comprehensive overview of why we all oppose the war
on drugs (or should). But it is the frightful prisoners'
stories that should shock this nation into the realization
of the barbaric tribe we've become.

It's not light reading. but it is necessary. I plan to
hand deliver it to every news editor I know.

-- Toni Leeman, Director Florida Office of
Marijuana Policy Project

"People truly need to know what is
going on in the name of the Drug War, and because this book
tells personal stories from the front lines, everyone will
find people in it with whom they can relate or sympathize.
Give Shatttered Lives to someone who has no idea just
how out of control this Drug War is, or who has the 'lock
'em up and throw away the key" mentality, or who just
doesn't understand why you feel so passionately about this
subject.

"Give it to someone who's taking risks without
understanding the consequences, or to kids who need a
warning before they start to experiment with drugs. Give it
to a politician who doesn't understand how much harm they
are doing, or to a minister who can use material for a
sermon, or to a teacher who can use it as class material.
The possibilities are endless."

Shattered Lives paints a human face on the thousands of
incarcerated Americans serving out excessive drug sentences.
Americans like Joanne, Gary and Steve Tucker, together
serving 26 years for selling hydroponics equipment from
their family-owned store. And those like Scott Walt, age 39,
presently serving 24 years for conspiracy to possess
marijuana. These are the seldom seen victims of our nation's
growing drug war rhetoric, the unfortunate outcomes of more
than 60 years of lies, propaganda, and political
posturing.

Shattered Lives also focuses on the families torn apart
by drug prohibition, and the children left behind in its
wake. "I have four children who all live with family, but in
separate homes and towns," recalls Jodie Israel, age 34,
serving 11 years on marijuana conspiracy charges. "It is so
hard to explain to a child why you can't be with them and I
believe it puts a tremendous burden on their little hearts.
I feel these sentences are for the entire family, not just
the inmate.... It is not just the prisoners doing time, it
is our families, too. I believe it is just as hard on them
as it is on us."

Unfortunately, Jodie's story, and her family's plight, is
not unique in the pages of Shattered Lives. Norris and her
co-authors pro file dozens of cases where the punishment no
longer fits the crime.

"My family is devastated," writes David Ciglar, age 39. A
former firefighter who saved more than 100 lives, Ciglar is
now serving ten years for marijuana cultivation. "My wife
live[s] every day wondering if she can make it
financially and mentally. My kids don't know why their Dad
was taken away for such a long, long time. I have not even
bonded with my youngest daughter. She was just two when I
left her." Shattered Lives is based on the award-winning
photo exhibit, "Human Rights: Atrocities of the Drug
War."

All three authors serve as curators and coordinators for
the exhibit, originally constructed in 1995 in conjunction
with the United Nations 50th anniversary.

Like its predecessor, Shattered Lives impacts the reader
literally and visually. The book's oversized 8-1/2" by 11"
format adds even greater impact to the portraits of those
forever scarred by the excesses of drug prohibition, and
makes Shattered Lives convenient to display on any
reformer's coffee table. If the ultimate goal of art and the
written word is to emotionally move the reader, then
Shattered Lives succeeds in a way few analyses before it
have.

More than just a self-described "wake-up call to every
American," this book will potentially change the way many
view prohibition forever. Perpetuation of America's drug war
relies on the continued demonization of drugs and their
users. In response, Shattered Lives is an all important
"humanization" campaign documenting the often ignored human
costs of drug prohibition and the devastation it wreaks.

Shattered Lives; Portraits From America's Drug War is
available from Creative Xpressions @ (510) 215-8326 and may
be purchased online from Amazon.com or from the publisher's
websites at www.hr95.org and www.chrisconrad.com. The
toll-free credit card order line is 866-292-6657.

Narco Nightmare: America's Drug War targets its own
citizens

Drug Crazy: How We Got into This Mess & How We Can
Get Out. By Mike Gray. (Random House, New York; 256 pages;
$23.95/ hardcover).

Former Republican presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan
wasn't the only social critic signing copies of a new book
in Syracuse on Oct. 20. While the famous right-winger sat at
the Syracuse University Bookstore autographing his The Great
Betrayal (Little, Brown and Co.; $22.95), two very different
authors appeared on a local cable access TV show.

California writers Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad could
have titled their recent book "The Great Betrayal" as well,
because it vividly exposes how contemporary American drug
policy has betrayed US citizens by tearing apart families,
making orphans of children, and allowing police to seize
homes and property from people merely suspected of drug
trafficking.

Every now and then, the Drug War causes innocent blood to
flow, and the authors document several cases of fatal
shootings by police men executing no-knock drug raids. One
of those victims was Bruce Lavoie of Hudson, NH, who awoke
suddenly Aug. 3, 1989, when a group of armed undercover cops
used a battering ram to break down his front door. As Lavoie
rose from his bed to defend his young son, he was shot to
death while the boy watched helplessly. Police found only
one marijuana cigarette butt on the premises.

More typical but no less tragic are the life stories of
women such as Billings, Mont., housewife Jodie Israel,
charged with possession of less than two ounces of ganja,
money laundering and conspiracy to sell. Her husband, a
practicing Rastafarian named Calvin Treiber, was also busted
in the FBI's so-called "Operation Reggae North." Israel, 35,
is now serving an 11-year sentence, while her husband, 38,
was slapped with 29 years. They have four children waiting
for their release.

"It's so hard to explain to a child why you can't be with
them, and I believe it puts a tremendous burden on their
little hearts," Israel told the authors of Shattered Lives.
"It's not just the prisoners doing time, it is our families,
too. I believe it's just as hard on them as it is on
us."

The children affected seem to agree with the incarcerated
mother. One (unidentified) prisoner's child wrote her a
note, asking, "Mommy, if I be bad, can I come where you
are?"

Faces of Unseen Victims

In several ways, Shattered Lives reads like an everyman's
edition of People magazine. Clearly written and concisely
structured, the book's 10 chapters rely on photographs to
help tell the subjects' stories. The pictures, both color
and black-and white, show warm and compassionate human faces
attesting to the otherwise cold hard facts of the Drug War's
inhumanity.

The snapshots, initially collected as part of a San
Francisco photo exhibit, prove that Drug War prisoners of
war belie criminal stereotypes. Sure, there are a few
youthful Deadheads and dreadlocked Rastas, but suburban
soccer moms, grandma and grandpa types and plenty of
blue-collar workers also find themselves behind bars, mainly
because of mandatory sentencing laws. "One of the strengths
of our book is its use of photographs," Norris notes. "There
are so many different kinds of people affected by this,
including children. This whole drug war is so anti-family,
so anti-community, it's tearing people apart. Nonviolent,
consensual offenders are being sent away to prison for long
stretches of time. Children are losing their parents and
losing each other."

Not only do the short profiles of each defendant keep the
reader browsing along at a quick clip, humor also reiterates
the human element in Shattered Lives, with section headings
such as "Urine the Money," an expose of the burgeoning drug
testing industry.

One of Shattered Lives' most revealing chapters, "The
Drug War Industrial Complex," describes the war's unceasing
proliferation, even in the face of ever increasing drug use.
The authors quote the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, which indicated that in 1998, 66 percent of the Drug
War budget is being spent on enforcement and interdiction,
while 34 percent is being spent on education and
treatment.

In his easy-to-read, insightful new book Drug Crazy,
renegade filmmaker Mike Gray also grapples with the
nightmarish police state Americans have blindly allowed to
flourish. Gray, author of The China Syndrome, notes that the
United States has spent $300 billion on the Drug War over
the past 15 years. The 21-year-long Vietnam War, by
comparison, cost taxpayers a mere $180 billion.

Civil Liberties Eroded

Although the monetary costs boggle the mind, Americans
pay a far higher price for the mindless erosion of civil
liberties. Gray notes that the federal Omnibus Crime Bill of
1984 not only boosted prison terms, but also allowed
prosecutors to confiscate cash, cars, boats, homes, bank
accounts, stock portfolios&emdash;"any thing they believed
to have been tainted with drugs or drug money&emdash; based
on nothing more than an accusation." Charges might be filed
later, after the unannounced seizures are made and evidence
is gathered, the exact reverse of due process.

What's worse about asset forfeiture, the author points
out, is that the seized booty could be shared by the law
enforcement agencies making the seizure. "The cop on the
beat now had a cash incentive to capture property instead of
criminals," Gray writes. Smelling easy money, localities
soon followed those federal foot steps, even here in
Onondaga County, where the Legislature routinely passes a
civil forfeiture law as requested annually by the district
attorney.

With its measured tone and supremely sane analysis, Drug
Crazy contradicts its title. It begins with a revealing
historical perspective, comparing the Drug War to America's
failed effort at alcohol prohibition, in a chapter called "A
Tale of Two Cities&emdash;Chicago: 1995-1925."

Gray's book ends with two extremely helpful appendices.
The first lists the US murder rate, the federal Drug War
budget for 1981-1993, and state and federal prison
populations from 1966-1996, including several eye-opening
paragraphs dramatically driving the message home. The second
appendix, "An Activist's Guide," lists 70-plus Internet Web
sites covering everything from the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration (www.usdoj.gov/dea/) to Forfeiture Endangers
American Rights (www.fear.org/).

If America ever hopes to over come its
obsessive&emdash;and expensive&emdash;demonization of drug
users, it can do so only by dismantling the ever-growing
Drug War apparatus. The "Drug War Industrial Complex," as
Shattered Lives calls it, has never managed to make much of
dent in street-level drug use or availability. Despite its
ineffectiveness, however, with billions of dollars invested
in things like military interdiction, prisons, police and
even mandatory rehab programs, the system tends to feed upon
itself and multiply.

Glimmers of Hope

Despite that daunting prospect, glimmers of hope dot the
horizon. Locally, former-New York state Senators H. Douglas
Barclay and John Dunne&emdash;both of whom sup ported
passage of the stringent Rockefeller Drug Laws back in
1973&emdash;recently urged statewide reforms, specifically
regarding mandatory sentencing. The two conservative
Republicans noted that there are more street dealers working
now despite the harsh laws, which have clearly failed to
deter people from using or selling illegal drugs. Instead of
continuing to overcrowd state prisons at an estimated cost
of $30,000 per year for each prisoner, Dunne and Barclay
urged treatment for nonviolent drug defendants.

The anti-Drug War mood has also taken hold in Albany,
where the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice seeks
bipartisan support from legislative leaders. The campaign
takes initial aim at mandatory sentencing requirements
established by the Rockefeller Drug Laws, a move supported
by most state Court of Appeals judges, as well as by federal
judges. Mandatory drug-sentencing laws&emdash;which can send
plenty of otherwise law-abiding citizens to jail for lengthy
stretches&emdash;"have proven less than effective," noted
New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye.

Nationally, Gray points out, reefer madness suffered a
severe setback two years ago, on Nov. 5, 1996, when voters
in California and Arizona ignored the pious pronouncements
of President Clinton and a slew of law enforcers to
overwhelmingly approve marijuana for medical use. "lt was a
stunning defeat for the prohibitionists," Gray writes." And
the Arizona voters went further, turning the clock back 80
years to a time when doctors could prescribe any drug they
saw fit, including heroin."

Gray goes on to imagine a world where addicts receive
treatment from their doctors rather than prison sentences
from prosecutors, where marijuana is regulated and taxed,
where South American cartels are replaced by professional
pharmacists. Such reforms will only occur over time, if and
when voters such as those in California and Arizona get the
courage to demand such changes from the government. Until
then, let the words of Shattered Lives co-author Virginia
Resner remind us all: "The Drug War is wrong! There is
nothing good about it. It's mean-spirited, destructive,
negative and greedy. It's downright un-American."

Liberty magazine, February 1999. pp.
56-58

"Victims All"

By Jonathan Ellis

In Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's Drug
War, Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad and Virginia Resner
propose a solution: "a national dialogue is called for that
puts all the cards on the table and engages everyone, from
all walks of life.... After all, we are in this
together."

Maybe they're right. Maybe this kind of sally into the
political, democratic process is the answer. Medical
marijuana is, after all, an electoral juggernaut, kicking
ass in election after election.

But we already live in a democratic society, a society
replete with 'revolutionary' baby boomers who played pocket
pool while Presidents Reagan and Bush pushed the drug war
engine at full throttle (and today Clinton continues the
tradition). True, the drug war is perpetuated by deceit. But
that's what happens in a democracy. Nowadays, "national
dialogues" are what the president stages to cajole people
into thinking he cares, not into rethinking much of
anything.

The main narrative takes a swipe at the points that
should be hit: forfeiture laws, innocent casualties,
conspiracy laws, racial disparities, mandatory minimums,
etc. The authors point out that the war on drugs is big
business for special interests. The prison industry loves
those victimless crimes. The more prisoners crowding the
hoosegow, the more reason to build a new prison, hire new
union-member guards, and, in the case of private jails, send
out optimistic reports to shareholders.

Shattered Lives reminds me of a high school
workbook&emdash;it's about the same size, and its pages are
bursting with pictures and sidebars. The designers have done
a nice job. If only high schools were using it as a
workbook. (A replacement for DARE, perhaps?) It was written
for and in part by the poor souls devoured by the war on
drugs. Many of the sidebars were written by current inmates.
Their accounts and accompanying photographs are touching, to
say the least.

And the book asks some interesting questions. Women,
conservatives like to remind us, belong at home where they
can care for their families. So why do women "comprise the
fastest growing population in prison today"? Many rot in
prison on conspiracy charges because prosecutors say they
should have known that their husbands or boyfriends were
dealing. No doubt the prison industry wants more women.
They're not as violent as men, easier to care for, and some
guards, I suspect, like women for more sinister reasons.

Deborah Lynn Mendes, serving twelve years and seven
months for conspiracy to aid and abet in distributing
cocaine, appears with her daughter, Heather.
"Unfortunately," she writes, "I thought I simply had to turn
myself in, tell my story and 'Liberty and justice for all'
would prevail. How very naive I was."

Then there's Jodie Israel, serving eleven years for
marijuana conspiracy while her husband serves 29 years. She
writes, "I have four children who all live with family, but
in separate homes and towns.... It is so hard to explain to
a child why you can't be with them and I believe it puts a
tremendous burden on their little hearts."

Shattered Lives conveys a personal rather than an
abstract argument against the drug war. Flipping through the
pages and confronting the haunting images of people like
Lewis Atley, serving 20 years for the "crime" of growing
psilocybin mushrooms, or Kemba Smith, serving 24 years for
conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, makes a potent
argument for ending the drug war, and releasing its
victims.

It dawned on me after finishing Shattered Lives that the
way to end the drug war was right there in those pictures.
All those families torn apart, all those innocent people
steamrolled by the government. The government is creating
the enemy army right now. Once enough people are victimized,
it's only a matter of time before this army starts to march.
Maybe it will act through the democratic process; and maybe
it will act with violence.

New Unionist, Minneapolis MN,
December 1998

'Drug War' is not about drugs, but money,
power and social control

By Joanne Forman

"That's stupid!" How many times have we all said this
about the shenanigans of our very own government? To the
average citizen, many things the government does makes no
sense for our good and welfare, but they make plenty of
sense for those who profit from various programs.

A case in point is the massive Drug War now being waged
by the government against more and more citizens, especially
people of color. An intelligent and thorough new book by
Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad and Virginia Resner lays it all
out and provides plenty of food for thought. As Shattered
Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War succinctly
states, "It's not about drugs. It's about money: prison
contracts, property seizure, and criminal market profits.
It's about power. The power to control how people live, what
they think, with whom they associate; power to destroy lives
over merest suspicion or rumor. Power to control society to
submit to any political wind."

One definition of stupidity might well be: the inability
to learn from mistakes. One would think after Prohibition,
which resulted only in giving alcohol more of a pleasurable
aura of the forbidden while providing a bonanza for
organized crime, the government would have gotten the
message.

It did get a message, but not the one that prohibition is
futile. Shattered Lives tells the story:

"Harry Anslinger, the head of Prohibition enforcement, in
a grab for power and job security, shifted to narcotics
enforcement and actively lobbied Congress to criminalize a
variety of legitimate activities.

"In 1937, Anslinger engineered passage of the prohibitive
marijuana Tax Act. It was passed to crack down on
Mexican-Americans, reefer smoking Negroes, jazz musicians
and 'Hindoos' from Asia, as well as to secure the financial
profits of DuPont and other petrochemical and timber
interests who were threatened by new technical developments
using the hemp plant. The Drug War has grown since then,
with severe consequences.

"America incarcerates more of its citizens than any other
developed nation except Russia. Almost two-thirds of federal
prisoners are charged with drug activities that were not
even illegal at the beginning of this century. . . Building
and running prisons for profit is a trend that demands a
growing prison population to increase revenues, and turning
more people into prisoners creates a need for more prisons.
"Setting long sentences for non-violent drug of fenders
keeps the number of prisoners up and creates a more stable,
experienced and easily controlled prison labor force . . .
Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) operates over 80
factories in 48 federal prisons . . . All 50 states have
prison industries that contract or lease their work force to
public agencies or private businesses."

Even within the federal government there is dissent about
the justice of the Drug War. "The National Commission on
Marijuana and Other Drugs recommended in 1972 that cannabis
be decriminalized . . . on August 2, 1978, President Carter
called on Congress to decriminalize marijuana." Even drug
czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey refers to our prison system as
America's "internal gulag."

No one disputes that the use of powerful
consciousness-altering substances (including alcohol,
Phenobarbital, Valium, et. al.) is an enormous problem. But
it is a medical, not a criminal, problem. There is little
doubt that marijuana should be legalized, and other
currently illegal substances should be put under strict
medical control. The $17 billion a year going for the Drug
War could be used for more socially useful programs,
including more adequate treatment programs. It makes more
sense for public safety for addicts to be able to get their
"hit" by prescription at nominal cost. They would be off the
street, and the drug trade would decline.

All this is so obvious, why hasn't it been done?

Shattered Lives notes that "Special interests who profit
from the Drug War donate money to the campaigns of
politicians who criminalize more social activities and send
more people to prison for longer terms. The prison industry
pockets the profit, then recycles it back to pay off their
political allies for the next round."

And it's not only the money. People have been sold a bill
of goods about drugs, and politicians are afraid to appear
"soft on crime." Our society today needs crisis, needs an
enemy. The endemic racism of our nation makes it easy to
demonize people of color &emdash;we rarely hear about coke
use in Bel Air or Scarsdale.

But perhaps the most basic question of all is: Why do
people crave drugs? If it's moral turpitude the entire human
race stands condemned. Potentially harmful sub stances have
been used by all peoples at all times, whether certain
mushrooms, poppy, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, sugar. If we
had a more reason able society, would people need the stuff
less? If our young people could look at the future with hope
and confidence?

The dirty little secret is that our whole society is
addictive; it must be if profits are to be kept up. We must
keep consuming, whether TV or Coca-Cola (which originally
contained cocaine). That the pharmaceutical corporations
make billions with drugs, some of which are of doubtful
value, is hardly news.

A society based upon production for use, not profit,
would change the focus of human existence. People would
embrace living rather than try to escape it, and harmful
drug use would be minimized.

One of the main difficulties in selling the drug policy
reform message to Americans has been the lack of an
appealing poster child" who might evoke the public's
sympathy &emdash; and those its support of our cause. Most
images of the drug war we see are those of hooded black
teenagers, their underwear sticking out of baggy pants. This
is not an image destined to elicit sympathy from
middle-class Americans. "Shattered Lives" changes that.

This glossy, paper-bound 81/2" x 11" book features a
perfect poster child &emdash; a pretty white girl &emdash;
on the cover, and is packed with photos and bios of
individuals and families whose lives have been shattered by
the Drug War. This "coffee table" book will create a new
image of the costs of Prohibition in the minds of anyone who
reads, or even browses through, it. Here are snapshots and
bios of people doing 10, 20, and even 90 years for being
involved with illegal drugs &emdash; or simply being
marginally associated with people involved with illegal
drugs. Many of the people depicted were convicted of
"conspiracy" charges, bringing sentences of 15 years or more
because they didn't have sufficient information to share
with authorities.

And guess what &emdash; most victims are white,
middle-class Americans of all ages &emdash; people who look
like your friends or neighbors, people whose families have
been destroyed by the very people who claim to cherish the
family.

"Shattered Lives" fills a heretofore empty space on the
anti-Prohibition bookshelf. Thanks Mikki, Chris, and
Virginia for this important contribution.

Book Review: Shattered Lives:
Portraits from America's Drug War

IT WAS AN UNWINNABLE WAR which cost U.S. taxpayers
billions of dollars each year to fight, resulted in
countless civilian casualties, and stretched on for over
twenty years in spite of widespread grassroots opposition.
Its enemy was often indistinguishable, its victories
short-lived and dehumanizing, its ultimate objective
deliberately obscured by government rhetoric and influenced,
even dictated, by private interests.

This description of the Vietnam War could just as easily
be applied to the War on Drugs waged today on the streets
and in the homes of ordinary citizens. In deed, the authors
frequently refer to the striking parallels between the Drug
War and other dark chapters in American history, including
Vietnam and Prohibition. Norris, in her preface to the book,
compares the whole sale imprisonment of thousands of
nonviolent, first time offenders of all ages and
backgrounds, whose only "crime" in many cases was innocent
association with the wrong person, to the scapegoating and
concentra tion camps of the Holocaust.

The pages of Shattered Lives are filled with statistics,
charts, historical facts, and legal citations. However, it
is the stories of the victims themselves, accused, sometimes
unjustly, of drug offenses and sentenced to lengthy prison
terms, and the stories of their families and loved ones that
are at the heart of this book

A photo of each person accompanies his/her name, age, a
summary of the case, the sentence, and crime, ranging from
five years for marijuana cultivation (in the case of Rev.
Tom Brown, founder and pastor of Our Church, which used
cannabis in its religious services), to three life sentences
plus 20 years (given to Danielle Metz, 31, mother of two
small children, convicted because she wouldn't testify
against her husband), for conspiracy to distribute cocaine,
continuing crirninal enterprise, and money
laundering&emdash;all nonviolent of fenses!

Shattered Lives is a book about people. Its avowed
purpose is to put a human face on the Drug War by
publicizing the stories of its innocent victims. A
collaborative project which grew out of a series of travel
ing exhibits on human rights that the authors orga nized in
1995, it includes photos, poems, even children's drawings
that dramatize the staggering statistics and bring to light
the human costs of the Drug War.

It is the story of 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, the
first American civilian killed by military troops on U.S.
soil since the Kent State massacre in 1970, who was shot
dead by a camouflaged Marine while tending his family's goat
herd in Redford, TX. It is the story of paraplegic Jimmy
Montgomery, originally sentenced to life for possession of
two ounces of marijuana used to control spasms and stimulate
his appetite. He was released on medical parole only after
being re-imprisoned, treated with addictive drugs, put into
solitary confinement, and handcuffed to a prison bed without
adequate medical treatment for infections to his lower body,
an ordeal which ultimately resulted in the loss of a
leg.

It is the story of Clyde Young, whose entire family was
arrested (including Clyde's mother and 90-year old uncle)
for marijuana cultivation after he had refused to sell his
land to a wealthy businessman, J.P. Altmire. (No drugs were
ever found.) The trial judge, Altmire's friend and former
lawyer, refused to admit Altmire's defamatory letters as
evidence in the family's defense and allowed convicted drug
offenders to testify against them in exchange for lighter
sentences&emdash;an all-too-common practice in many drug
cases today.

Reading through the stories of these heretofore nameless
and faceless victims, one experiences emotions ranging from
shock and incredulousness to anger and frustration.
Fortunately, however, one is not left feeling helpless or
hopeless. The final chapter of the book deals with humane
alternatives to the draconian Mandatory Minimum Sentences
(which slap pen alties of 5,10, even 20 years or more on
first-time, non violent offenders); the drug conspiracy law
(which provides extended sentences merely for associating
with a dealer, or knowing about a situation and not
reporting it, even if a crime is never carried out!); and
the Civil Asset Forfeiture laws (which allow the government
to seize private property without charging anyone with a
crime).

The authors of Shattered Lives don't ask the reader to
condone drug use, nor even suggest elimination of prison
sentences for drug-related crimes. They simply call for
Americans to question the policies and tactics of the Drug
War and the prison industrial complex that it feeds. They
make their case simply by giving us the words and pictures
of those who have paid and are still paying the price with
their own shattered lives.